Politics- Rep. Dan Crenshaw is projected to win against Democrat Sima Ladjevardian in Texas' 2nd Congressional District.
- Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL and a prominent rising star in Republican
politics , is projected to win against Ladjevardian, an attorney andDemocratic political strategist. - Texas' 2nd District, located in the Houston area, heavily favors Republicans but has shown signs of trending towards Democrats in the past several cycles.
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First-term Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw is projected to win against Sima Ladjevardian in Texas' 2nd Congressional District, located in the Houston area.
The candidates
Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL and congressional staffer, won the 2018 election to replace former Rep. Ted Poe.
Crenshaw is a native Houstonian who served in Afghanistan as a Lieutenant Commander on SEAL Team 3 and was wounded in action in Afghanistan. After a tough recovery, Crenshaw completed two more deployments with the SEALs before retiring in 2016, receiving a Purple Heart and numerous other awards.
In Congress, Crenshaw serves on the powerful House Budget and House Homeland Security Committees. He's also a staunch conservative and ally of President Donald Trump. His campaign platform emphasizes protecting gun rights, border security, and promoting free-market economic and healthcare policies.
Crenshaw is widely considered a rising star in the Republican party. He is the author of "Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage," and recently spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention. An adept social media user, he boasts approximately 3.5 million followers between his Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.
Ladjevardian immigrated to the US from Iran as a child and is an attorney, breast cancer survivor, and Democratic political strategist. She worked as a Senior Advisor and the Finance Chair for former Rep. Beto O'Rourke's 2018 US Senate campaign against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
Her campaign platform highlights expanding access to affordable healthcare, including creating a public option to allow Americans to buy into Medicare, combatting climate change and protecting the Houston area from flooding, and improving the US immigration system.
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The district
Located entirely within Harris County, the 2nd District snakes around the city of Houston from the suburbs northeast of the city, including Kingwood, Humble, and Spring, and then hooks down to encompass some of the areas in western and downtown Houston.
The district has shown signs of trending towards Democrats in the past several cycles.
Under its current lines, the district voted for 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney by a margin of 27 percentage points, but voted for Trump in 2016 by a considerably smaller margin of nine points, according to the Daily Kos. It is the only Houston-area district to vote for Trump.
In 2018, Cruz carried the district by a margin of just one percentage point over O'Rourke in his reelection campaign. That same year, Crenshaw won his first election by seven points over his Democratic opponent.
—Sima Ladjevardian (@SimaforTX) August 27, 2020
The money race
Crenshaw is one of the most prolific and talented fundraisers in the House Republican caucus. According to the Center for Responsive Politics and Federal Election Commission filings, he's brought in $16.2 million, spent $12.7 million, and has $3.5 million in cash on hand.
Ladjevardian has raised $3.3 million, spent $3.2 million, and has about $132,000 in cash on hand.
What some of the experts said
The Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics rated this race as "likely Republican" while Inside Elections rated it "solid Republican."
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